By Samantha Cart
During a time when the practice of law has been brought to the forefront of the national consciousness with extensive media coverage on a variety of court cases and the appointment of new judges to the U.S. Supreme Court, West Virginia Executive magazine in partnership with West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law is working to recognize an elite group of remarkable lawyers who are making strides in their careers and communities with the Lawyers & Leaders Awards.
American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that nothing great is achieved without enthusiasm. The truth of that sentiment is illustrated in the unmatched enthusiasm of the Lawyers & Leaders Class of 2018, which is made obvious by its honorees’ lists of achievements. Each member of this year’s class is passionate about putting the law into practice to better the world around them.
“WVU College of Law is excited to partner with West Virginia Executive magazine to honor another class of outstanding Lawyers & Leaders,” says Dean Gregory Bowman. “The professionals chosen for these awards demonstrate exemplary leadership, a commitment to service and, of course, an unbreakable bond with the state of West Virginia. We are proud to showcase them and their wonderful accomplishments.”
Now in its second year, this honors program recognizes lawyers who are either practicing in West Virginia or graduated from WVU College of Law. Each recipient has made a positive impact on their community, both with their dedication to their legal work and dedication to service, and is invested in empowering others and creating positive social change through the practice of law.
The members of the 2018 class were chosen from a variety of legal fields, and their backgrounds include legal aid, military service, prosecution, civil rights, exoneration, personal injury law, civil service and judiciary work. Together they represent decades of hard work, generosity and tenacity in fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom.
A ceremony honoring the Lawyers & Leaders Class of 2018 was held at WVU College of Law in August with the help of sponsors Bailey & Wyant, PLLC; Dinsmore & Shohl LLP; Frost Brown Todd LLC; and Shaffer & Shaffer PLLC.
If you know a lawyer who is making an impact in their career and community and either practices in West Virginia or graduated from WVU College of Law, nominate them for next year’s class. Nominations are accepted year-round and can be submitted at www.wvexecutive.com/lawyers-leaders.
Katherine Garvey – Director, Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic, West Virginia University College of Law
Cheryl L. Henderson -Owner and Attorney, Henderson, Henderson & Staples, LC
Karen Hamrick Miller – Attorney at Law, Miller & Amos
William Ihlenfeld – Managing Partner, Bailey & Glasser LLP
Allan N. Karlin – Founder and Attorney, Allan N. Karlin & Associates
Stephen P. New – Founder and Attorney, New Law Office
Tera L. Salango – Attorney, Preston & Salango, PLLC
Fred Stamp – U.S. District Judge, Northern District of West Virginia
Joseph A. Wallace – Co-Owner and Attorney, Wallace Law Offices
Taunja Willis Miller – Counsel, Jackson Kelly PLLC
Bobby Warner – Owner and Attorney, Warner Law Offices
Chase Farmer – Class of 2018, WVU College of Law
Rebecca L. Trump – Class of 2018, WVU College of Law
Photo by WVU College of Law.
[sta_anchor id=”garvey” unsan=”Garvey” /]Katherine Garvey
Director, Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic, West Virginia University College of Law
By Blair Dowler
Growing up right outside of Kansas City, MO, Katherine Garvey’s life was shaped by a rural environment surrounded by clean, swimmable water, productive farms and healthy forests.
“I’ve always had an appreciation for the natural environment and believe it is important to protect those resources for future generations,” she says.
Today, Garvey is doing her part to protect the Mountain State’s resources as the director of the Land Use and Sustainable Development (LUSD) Law Clinic at West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law, which provides legal and planning services to conserve land and water, supports local land use planning and offers educational opportunities for both law students and the citizens of West Virginia.
Her journey to the LUSD began at Webster University in St. Louis, MO, where she earned her undergraduate degree in international business. She then went on to earn her Juris Doctor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) in 2004, followed by her Masters of Law degree, or LLM, in environmental law at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, VT, in 2010.
While Garvey enjoyed being involved on campus, including serving as president of UMKC School of Law’s Environmental Law Society, law school was challenging for her. She knew she did not want to litigate, and she found her evidence and criminal and civil procedure courses to be particularly brutal. It was then that she decided to pair her passion for the environment with her education to find a career path through which she could affect real, immediate change.
“During law school, I was really interested in international environmental law and federal environmental law, specifically the Clean Water Act,” she says. “After attending several international conferences and working for the federal government, I was eager to find work where change had a more immediate impact, which led me to local government work.”
It was during the summers in law school that Garvey began to hone her passion for public interest.
“The summer after my 1L year, I applied to be an official observer at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa and was awarded a grant to cover travel expenses,” she says. “The summer after my 2L year, I was awarded a $600 public interest fellowship. With the small stipend, I was able to afford a flight to Caracas, Venezuela, where I lived with a host family and worked at a nonprofit conservation agency.”
The environmental enthusiast went on to live out her dream of serving the public interest and making a great impact on many communities. She began her career as a law clerk and an environmental specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 in Kansas City, KS, in the National Agricultural Compliance Assistance Center and with the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. There, she developed additional skills for which she credits her supervisor, Ruben McCullers.
“On many occasions, he allowed me the opportunity to present and negotiate in scenarios where he clearly could have done a better job,” Garvey recalls. “He allowed me the opportunity to fail, gave constructive feedback and encouraged me to try again. In one situation, we were negotiating terms with a major military installation. He allowed me, as a 23 year old, to negotiate with an Army colonel in a room full of military officers. He took the time to grill me on the important points to help me prepare instead of taking the easy way out and just doing the negotiation himself.”
Garvey transitioned her career from federal to local government in 2006 when she began working on environmental permitting and land use issues as the environmental coordinator for the City of Lee’s Summit, MO. Then, moving on to a fellowship position at Vermont Law School’s Land Use Clinic, which was one of the only land use clinics in the country, she had the opportunity to work with local governments on environmental and land use issues such as protection of agricultural soils, flood recovery and historic preservation.
And then Almost Heaven came calling.
“Moving to West Virginia to help start the WVU Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic was a great fit,” she says. “My husband and I were considering a move closer to the Midwest but still hoped to find space in a mountainous state. I took the Colorado bar exam, thinking we would head to the Rockies, but then I received a call from West Virginia University. At the time, I knew little about the Mountain State and the motto montani semper liberi. We have now lived here for six years, and we are thrilled to call this beautiful state home.”
In her role today as the director of the LUSD clinic at WVU, Garvey oversees activities to support the clinic’s land use planning, land conservation, flood recovery, dilapidated building and wastewater projects. She supervises a team of six attorneys, two certified land use planners and up to 12 third-year law students who work on projects serving more than 50 local government and nonprofit clients.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team we have built at the land use clinic,” she says. “The core values, work ethic and character of the people in our office are beyond compare. The dedicated folks in our office share the work load, travel burden and supervision responsibilities. We would not have accomplished all we have accomplished in such a short amount of time without such an amazing group firing on all cylinders.”
The clinic is an asset to West Virginia, helping many communities and governments throughout the state plan for the future and helping each area overcome challenges and maintain certain resources. The clinic is also an asset for WVU College of Law students.
“As a clinical program, the greatest value to students is the ability to apply legal knowledge in a real-world context,” says Garvey. “Students attend and participate in client interviews, negotiations and public meetings and are also introduced to the substantive law and policy pertaining to land use, water conservation and protection, land use planning and sustainable development principles. In addition to professional skills, I hope students develop an appreciation for public interest work.”
It is evident that Garvey is committed to helping communities around the world through pro bono work. She has dedicated most of her time to organizations that support clean water initiatives or the alleviation of poverty, and she serves on several boards, including the board for the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center. She is the co-founder of the West Virginia Alternative Wastewater Treatment Coalition and was also recently appointed to the board of the Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit.
“This organization is the only nonprofit specifically dedicated to building a future in which vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties no longer exist,” she says. “Although the organization has typically worked in urban environments, it is expanding its efforts to rural environments close to my heart,” she says.
Although she is not a native of West Virginia, Garvey is a true Mountaineer. When fellow West Virginians in the southern part of the state were in need of help after the devastating June 2016 flood, she and the LUSD clinic answered the call.
“After the flood, the land use clinic was approached by several local governments to assist in long-term recovery efforts,” she says. “We had been working in the City of Richwood on a comprehensive plan that was adopted only days before the flood. Our primary work has been assistance in long-term planning and assistance with property law matters.”
The LUSD clinic has since continued efforts to support communities impacted by the summer floods of 2016 and 2017, including developing comprehensive plans for the City of White Sulphur Springs and the Town of Clendenin and rendering various legal services on behalf of the Town of Hundred, the City of Richwood and the Appalachia Service Project for flood-impacted properties in Rainelle.
Under Garvey’s direction, the LUSD clinic has helped many other communities and governments and achieved much success over the last six years, such as protecting over 15,000 acres of iconic West Virginia landscape, facilitating more than 500 public meetings to encourage stakeholder engagement in local planning efforts and training 87 students in real estate and land use law.
“Working with over 50 local governments, we have an opportunity to travel across the beautiful state of West Virginia,” she says. “Every community is different, but we consistently hear about Mountaineer pride, community parks, natural features and historic gems. I love introducing my family and friends to these special places.”
There is no threat of Garvey’s work in public interest going stagnant, thanks to the inspiration she finds in those around her, including her father, who taught her to work hard and take risks. She also finds motivation in the students and volunteers she works with on a daily basis.
“I am constantly inspired by the students and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers who work in our office,” she says. “Our clinic works on some of the most challenging issues faced by communities in the U.S. Their optimism helps challenging work seem less daunting.”
Photo by Cheryl Henderson.
[sta_anchor id=”henderson” unsan=”Henderson” /]Cheryl L. Henderson
Owner and Attorney, Henderson, Henderson & Staples, LC
By Kevin Duvall
Cheryl Henderson, owner and attorney of the Huntington-based firm Henderson, Henderson & Staples, LC, has seen the value of both hard work and overcoming adversity throughout her legal career as a law student, practicing attorney, municipal city judge and long-time member of the Mountain State Bar Association (MSBA).
Her family moved to Huntington when she was 4 years old, where her father established himself as a sole practitioner. Growing up, Henderson wasn’t sure what her dream job was, but she found support and inspiration in her parents.
“Both my parents were my mentors,” she says. “They taught me that I could do anything I wanted. My legal mentor was my father, Herbert Henderson. He taught me to be ethical and honest and to do the best for my clients. There is no way I can fill my father’s shoes, but every day I go to my office planning to do the best I can.”
Henderson graduated from Fisk University in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in English, after which she returned to West Virginia and graduated from West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law in 1980. At WVU, Henderson met one of the major influences on her legal career.
“Attorney Franklin Cleckley was the only black law professor teaching when I attended WVU,” she says. “I thought he was brilliant. He could walk circles around the best when it came to the law. My lasting impression of him was that hard work pays off.”
After law school, Henderson worked as a trademark attorney with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., for two years before returning home to join her father’s firm.
“Everyone thought working with my father must have been easy,” she says. “I can assure you he was harder on me as his daughter than he would have been on someone else. When I first began working with him, he would review my work and mark it up. It would take me several attempts to get it right. My father always said do your best, and that stuck with me.”
Today, Henderson, Henderson & Staples handles both civil and criminal cases. Henderson focuses primarily on civil cases, especially in family law. She says the cases that have stayed with her most are adoption cases, which she refers to as win-win situations.
Beyond the firm, Henderson has carried on another family tradition through her work with the MSBA. The organization was established in the 1920s for African-American attorneys who were not allowed admittance to the West Virginia State Bar’s activities. In 1972, Henderson’s father was part of a group of attorneys that reestablished the organization. She has previously served as president of the MSBA, and today she serves as treasurer.
“The Mountain State Bar Association is important to me because it allows me to work on cases that other bar associations would be reluctant to take on,” she says. “I’m proud of this association for its commitment to protecting civil and human rights and for providing scholarships, free know-your-rights seminars and outstanding continuing legal education.”
In addition to pro bono work and legal organizations, Henderson has long been active in community service in Huntington. She currently serves on the boards of the Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington Symphony, Ebenezer Medical Outreach Center and A.D. Lewis Community Center. She has also served as a member of the Huntington Tri-State Airport board, Junior League of Huntington, St. Mary’s advisory board for women’s health, City of Huntington Board of Zoning Appeals and West Virginia Board of Medicine.
Henderson is especially invested in mentoring young people, including teaching young West Virginia lawyers and being involved with mentoring programs for young women and African-American youth.
“My mentoring is an investment in the next generation,” she says. “It’s an opportunity for me to give back and train up the next generation. I hope that in the past 35-plus years I have touched someone who has gone on to do well. West Virginia has so much potential, and I believe it’s been my goal over the years to make a difference in this state.”
Photo by John Johnson.
[sta_anchor id=”miller” unsan=”Miller” /]Karen Hamrick Miller
Attorney at Law, Miller & Amos
By Jean Hardiman
As West Virginia’s first female labor and employment attorney to open her own practice, Karen Miller sat in her small office and turned down all cases outside of that field until she built the kind of practice she wanted—one established through careful selection and trust.
“It was heaven to be on my own,” says Miller, who is now an attorney with Miller & Amos in Charleston, WV. “I was a devoted lawyer, and my clients appreciated me for that.”
Miller’s career is one achieved through a strong work ethic she learned while growing up in Charleston, surrounded by her parents and five siblings. “It was a wonderful childhood,” she says. “We were required to be educated in the worlds of music, art, sports and Catholicism. My parents were fabulous role models who taught us the true reason for living—to have a purpose in life by helping others.”
Fierce dedication to her clients is something she learned from watching her father, a second-generation physician. Encouragement in choosing a profession that would leave her fulfilled came from both parents.
“My father and mother instilled in me the idea that having a profession—and giving yourself to that profession—is one of the most rewarding things you can do in life,” she says.
With a lifelong interest in law and a passion for public speaking and winning debates, Miller decided to pursue a career as an attorney. She received her law degree from West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law in 1982.
While there, she made lifelong friends. “Whether they are judges, practicing lawyers, teachers or corporate professionals, I can call them and they will answer,” she says. “I am not sure if it is West Virginia camaraderie or a culture that was developed at WVU, but it has been a blessing.”
The law professor who had the greatest impact on Miller was John Fisher, who taught property law. “There has never been a time when I did not feel I could call on him for mentoring and advice,” she says.
After graduation, Miller went to work for Fred Holroyd, a defense labor and employment lawyer in Charleston. “He taught me that I had to always be honest, self-confident, hardworking and thick-skinned if I was going to work in labor law on the defense side in West Virginia,” she says.
Becoming the first female solo lawyer in labor and employment law two and a half years later was the most exciting time of Miller’s life. “When it came to union negotiations, it was another world,” she recalls. “I sat across the table from older men who smoked cigars, engaged in excessive profanity and were not used to a non-cussing, nonsmoking young female.”
Today, Miller represents corporations in labor and employment law, as well as doctors with malpractice and other issues. Representing physicians is a practice that came along unexpectedly when Miller found herself wanting to help her brother, a surgeon who wanted to self-insure his malpractice insurance, which at the time was well over $100,000 per year. She won his case and has since opened her door to other physicians needing protection.
Of all her successes, Miller considers the most important to be her four children, whom she raised with her late husband, David. She has demonstrated for them the importance of working hard and serving her community. She has volunteered with the WVU campaign and visiting committees, the Kanawha County and West Virginia State bar associations, Charleston Area Alliance, Junior League of Charleston, West Virginia Colonial Dames and many other organizations that are near and dear to her heart. She is responsible for pioneering property renovation in Charleston’s Renaissance District in 1988, and she has taught classes at the University of Charleston and West Virginia State University, as well as lecturing often at WVU.
“Because I have always lived here and have been educated here, my ties to this state will never be broken,” she says. “I have gained a wealth of knowledge from—and a deep understanding of—the people of West Virginia. For this, I am very thankful.”
Photo by Rick Lee.
[sta_anchor id=”ihlenfeld” /]William Ihlenfeld
Managing Partner, Bailey & Glasser LLP
By Katlin Swisher
William Ihlenfeld, managing partner at Bailey & Glasser LLP, has had an exciting career during which he has left an indelible mark on West Virginia and its communities. As a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, he learned to be a problem solver, which was vital to his efforts in tackling the opioid crisis. Law wasn’t his first career choice, but it quickly became his passion.
As an undergrad, Ihlenfeld was studying journalism at Ohio University when he was offered an internship at WOWK-TV in Charleston, WV. It was then that he experienced the impact of the law first hand and was inspired to pursue a legal career.
“While I was at WOWK-13, the station covered a high-profile trial gavel to gavel,” Ihlenfeld recalls. “It involved the murders of a mother and daughter from Cabin Creek, WV, and I had a front-row seat. I was captivated by the process, and I quickly realized the importance of prosecutors. My interest in journalism morphed into a love for the criminal justice system and a desire to be a prosecutor.”
Ihlenfeld went on to study law at West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law. His service as president of the competitive Lugar Trial Association during his time at WVU played a major role in preparing him to be a prosecutor, as did the trial advocacy course taught by Woodrow A. Potesta Professor of Law Charles DiSalvo.
“He knew the names of every single person in the class, all 75 of us,” Ihlenfeld says of DiSalvo. “One day early in the semester in civil procedure, he went around the room and without the help of a seating chart identified every one of us. This sent a message that he cared enough about us to know who we were and also that we better do our homework because he could call on us by name at any time.”
DiSalvo has had a lasting impact on Ihlenfeld, both as a professor and as a mentor throughout Ihlenfeld’s career.
“Professor DiSalvo taught us not to try cases we didn’t believe in with all of our heart,” says Ihlenfeld. “He also taught us how to prepare for trial, and his guidance helped me immensely in trying hundreds of cases as a state and federal prosecutor.”
Ihlenfeld earned his law degree in 1997 before returning home to Wheeling, WV, as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Ohio County. He managed the domestic violence docket in the county along with sexual assault cases.
“This caseload was my assignment for three years, so I became very familiar with the challenge of prosecuting cases where the victim doesn’t wish to cooperate,” says Ihlenfeld. “Without my most important witness, I quickly became an expert in the rules of evidence. I learned them backward and forward, especially the exceptions, and spent so much time with the rule book that I might as well have cuddled up with it in bed at night.”
Early on in his career, Ihlenfeld also worked as a drug prosecutor in Ohio County and the juvenile criminal docket in Brooke County, introducing him to opportunities for restorative justice.
“The handling of cases involving teenagers was enlightening and helped me better understand the concept of restorative justice,” he says. “I learned that simply prosecuting and punishing a young person is not enough. You must also take steps to look behind the curtain, so to speak, and determine why he committed the crime and what can be done to help steer the child down a different, better path.”
It was experiences like these that motivated Ihlenfeld to get involved in the search for solutions to the opioid crisis in West Virginia. Serving as a U.S. attorney, he attacked the problem from many angles, including creating the U.S. Attorney’s Addiction Action Plan, an unprecedented initiative that brought together a team of educators, health care professionals, business leaders, clergy, recovery specialists and law enforcement officials.
“I quickly realized that the traditional approach of arresting, convicting and incarcerating was not going to be enough to get the job done,” he says. “It’s not easy and it will take time, but we can do better than we are. We can move faster than we’re moving.”
Ihlenfeld has been a fierce advocate for directing federal resources to Northern West Virginia to combat the drug epidemic. When he began as a U.S. attorney in 2010, there was no money coming from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to counties in his district. When he departed in 2017, 25 percent of the district’s counties were receiving funding, which annually totals more than $1 million.
“One of the things I am most proud of is fighting for and obtaining this funding in the Northern Panhandle, the Eastern Panhandle and North Central West Virginia,” says Ihlenfeld. “Even though I’m no longer a U.S. attorney, the money still flows to our state to help with enforcement and prevention efforts.”
To further support substance abuse prevention, Ihlenfeld invested time speaking with children of all ages through Project Future, an initiative that educates youth about the science behind addiction and the importance of making good decisions. He was also part of the creation of the first federal drug court in West Virginia, a diversionary program that provides individuals the opportunity to avoid imprisonment and a conviction on their record if they successfully complete the rigorous process.
Ihlenfeld joined Bailey & Glasser LLP in Charleston, WV, in January 2017, where today he handles complex civil litigation, including health care compliance and fraud defense, as well as white collar crime and internal investigations. He provides practical counsel and represents health care providers and related organizations at trial, on appeal, in administrative and regulatory disputes and with cyber security.
“It’s challenging but enjoyable to keep up with ever-changing technology and the technological threats to the data our clients possess,” he says. “Cyber criminals are smart and savvy and are always looking for new ways to attack networks, and it’s rewarding to sit down and strategize with clients about how to strengthen their defenses from the ground up.”
His clients range from physicians, nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists, psychiatrists and psychologists to physician groups, hospital organizations, local and regional hospitals, national hospital systems and medical schools.
“My favorite part of the job is getting a good result for a client,” he says. “We handle high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation, so failure is not an option.”
Ihlenfeld became familiar with health care litigation while working for the U.S. Department of Justice. As a U.S. attorney, he created a health care fraud working group to better identify federal criminal violations.
“We took a data-driven approach to the prevention of health care fraud in West Virginia to proactively evaluate health care reimbursement data of medical providers in the state,” he says. “By using advanced statistical analysis, we were able to identify potentially fraudulent billing patterns and uncover waste and abuse more efficiently.”
Outside of work, Ihlenfeld has been a volunteer with numerous community organizations and a board member of nonprofit organizations that support victims of crime and the visually impaired, including the Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center, West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Wheeling YWCA’s Family Violence Prevention Program, The Seeing Hand Association and The Martinsburg Initiative. In 2016, he led a team of WVU College of Law students to Southern West Virginia to support flood relief efforts, helping victims repair their homes and providing them with essential supplies. Ihlenfeld also volunteered for Legal Aid of West Virginia, meeting with individuals in need of legal advice and assuming representation of cases on a pro bono basis.
“I give back to causes I’m passionate about and that have a need,” he says. “I not only provide financial support to these groups, but I also give my time, and I do that because community service runs in my family. I also do it because God has blessed me with so much that I feel like He expects me to give some of my blessings back to those who are less fortunate.”
Photo by Delaney Photography.
[sta_anchor id=”karlin” unsan=”Karlin” /]Allan N. Karlin
Founder and Attorney, Allan N. Karlin & Associates
By Kevin Duvall
Since beginning his career at Legal Aid of West Virginia in 1974, Allan Karlin, founder and attorney of Allan N. Karlin & Associates, has committed decades of work to representing the victims of injustice and those denied fundamental rights.
“If making a lot of money is always a factor in the selection of cases, one misses the chance to do a lot of interesting work,” says Karlin. “Besides, this kind of work is good for the soul.”
Today, Karlin is known as a top trial attorney in West Virginia, and he has been renowned for his pro bono work, especially in civil rights cases, and his work with the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to exonerating wrongfully convicted people.
Karlin’s compassion for marginalized individuals stems from his family’s guidance as a child. He grew up in Chicago, where his father worked as a plaintiff’s attorney and his mother was a homemaker dedicated to volunteer work. Karlin’s parents instilled in him the value of using one’s gifts to combat injustice through their work and the teachings of the Jewish faith.
“I was always a good student,” he recalls. “My mother reminded me many times that with the gift of intelligence comes a responsibility to use that gift wisely. To her that meant helping others and standing up for what was right. As a Jew, I was also reminded every year at the Passover holiday that Passover was not a dusty old religious tale but rather a lesson that we should resist every form of slavery against all people, regardless of religion, race or national origin.”
Karlin places high importance on seeing these principles in action as a foundation of his aspirations in law. “I recall on a family trip when I was a child, we were going to stay overnight in a town where one of my favorite baseball players owned a motel,” he says. “I asked my parents if we could stay at this white ballplayer’s motel, and they said yes—until we arrived and saw a sign on the door that said words to the effect of ‘We reserve the right to refuse a room to prospective guests.’ Seeing that sign, my father immediately turned around and left the parking lot even though it was already dark and we needed a place to sleep. He explained, in a lesson I never forgot, that the sign meant the motel discriminated against black persons, and we weren’t going to give it our business.”
Karlin had a chance early in life to implement the lessons his parents taught him while completing a five-year bachelor’s degree at Yale University, where his studies included a year of teaching public school in Fes, Morocco. He graduated summa cum laude in 1969.
After college, he worked with poor and working-class residents of Texarkana, Texas, as a member of Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA. His work focused on organizing and educating members of low-income communities about their rights. This experience proved to be a turning point in Karlin’s life. While working with a local pastor who helped bring the struggle against poverty and discrimination to Texarkana, Karlin and his fellow VISTA members were banned from the city by its council.
“We had just been voted out of Texarkana after being portrayed as dangerous outsiders who had come to promote an attack on its alleged values,” he recalls. “We thought our local enemies were coming to get us, but the pastor, Reverend David Stephens, gathered us together and said, ‘How can we turn this to our advantage?’ That has been my motto ever since. No matter how bad things look, there may be a way to turn events around. It is an attitude that has served me well in my legal career.”
After seeing that the VISTA group’s lawyer was able to use legal channels to help people who lived outside of the city’s power structure, Karlin decided to enroll in law school. “Maturing in the 1960s and early 1970s, I viewed law as an important avenue for social change,” he says. “In part, this view was nurtured by the activist lawyers who brought civil rights, criminal justice and other types of cases to fight discrimination and protect civil rights.”
Karlin graduated with Order of the Coif honors from the University of California Berkeley School of Law in 1974. He became active in the Berkeley community during law school by volunteering with a group that counseled tenants and encouraged tenant organizing. His work also focused on issues of constitutionality, including working on an appellate brief to defend Berkeley’s rent control ordinance. On the academic front, he was part of a group that argued for the development of externship programs for clinical opportunities.
Karlin’s first job after law school brought him to Morgantown, WV, where he joined the North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society. Although he was new to the state, Karlin found mentorship from his supervisor, Larry Starcher, who later became a justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
“Justice Larry Starcher was responsible for bringing me here, and even though I worked with him less than two years, he certainly taught me a lot about West Virginia and practicing law,” says Karlin.
After Starcher left Legal Aid to become a circuit judge, Karlin was appointed as its interim director. He became the official director in 1976 and held the position until 1981 when he decided to open his own firm. “I wanted to do more civil rights work, and I wanted to practice law without the increasing constraints on what a legal aid attorney could do in the 1980s,” he says. “I did not want to go the route of established firms. I wanted to represent working people in discrimination, retaliation, civil rights and sexual harassment cases and do some criminal law. Most of all, I wanted to be free to take the cases I wanted to take.”
Working alongside one other attorney, today most of Karlin’s cases involve harassment, discrimination, wrongful discharge and personal injury. He stresses that operating a private practice allows him to take cases that make a big difference in his clients’ lives and align with the firm’s moral and political values.
“I consider myself privileged to be able to make a good living in a law practice where neither economic pressure nor the policies of the firm require me to represent clients in cases where I either don’t like the case, don’t believe in the case and/or would rather not represent the client,” says Karlin. “This has allowed my firm to sometimes get involved in controversial cases without concern that someone might disapprove of our involvement.”
Karlin also places high value on cases that provide opportunities for education and community involvement. In his early days of private practice, he successfully represented a victim of domestic violence who was charged with first-degree murder in defense of her children and herself.
“It was very special to work on a case where my client was innocent under the law and where the case also educated the community about an important social issue,” he says. “It was also a special privilege to stand up in a courtroom representing my client with the support of many in the community sitting behind me, especially given the jury’s verdict of not guilty.”
More recently, Karlin has worked with the Innocence Project to free a West Virginian from a wrongful prison sentence.
“Can you imagine anything more horrible than being sentenced to prison for a minimum of 40 years when you were only 19 years old for a horrendous crime you did not commit?” he says. “Despite the protections of our criminal justice system, innocent people do get convicted and even in some cases plead guilty because of poor legal advice or simply fear that worse things will happen if they do not plead. There is a saying in both the Jewish and Muslim holy writings to the effect of, ‘Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.’ Working with the Innocence Project and ultimately succeeding in this case made this quote very real for me.”
Although Karlin is not a native West Virginian, he has developed strong ties to West Virginia University College of Law, where he is a dean’s partner and helped create and teach the pre-trial litigation course. He has also received the college’s Justitia Officium Award.
His community service includes being chairperson of the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board, co-chair of fundraising for Legal Aid and a member of United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties’ allocation committee. He serves on the board of the West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest, which provides stipends for law students working in public interest internships and attorneys working in public interest jobs after law school. He has also been active in several professional organizations and served as past president of the West Virginia Association of Justice.
Karlin has been recognized with several awards and honors, including the Sid Bell Memorial Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. While he appreciates this acclaim, he places higher importance on his wife and their family and friends, the relationships he has developed with clients and the fulfillment of having done work that benefits society.
“It is good to look in the mirror and believe that, win or lose, you tried and, most often, succeeded in helping someone get through hard times, in righting a wrong and in contributing in some small way to a more just world,” he says.
Photo by Shawna Lilly.
[sta_anchor id=”new” unsan=”New” /]Stephen P. New
Founder and Attorney, New Law Office
By Jean Hardiman
While native West Virginian and military veteran Stephen New has received recognition for legal excellence from his peers, area publications and the Association of Justice at the state and national levels, his most cherished accomplishments often come in the form of a handwritten note from a client, thanking him and his firm for a job well done.
New, who runs his own firm, New Law Office, in Beckley, WV, has always aimed to serve hardworking West Virginians and protect them from injustice at the hands of more powerful entities, whether that means feisty litigation for a personal injury client, lobbying the Legislature on behalf of workers’ Seventh Amendment rights, fighting for decent pay for court-appointed attorneys or doing pro bono work for a strapped not-for-profit organization.
Law was a career he chose when he was in eighth grade while growing up in Gilbert, WV, in the 1980s as the son of a coal mining foreman and a mother who went back to college for her teaching degree. “My younger brother, Jamey, and I enjoyed a nice, middle-class upbringing that taught hard work, kindness to neighbors and the importance of education,” says New.
He joined the Army six days after his 17th birthday and went to basic training while still in high school. He then graduated from Marshall University with a political science degree in 1994, where he had been a member of Marshall’s intercollegiate debate team, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and the ROTC program. At the time of graduation, he was also commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Then he applied for West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law, unsuccessfully.
“The most teachable moments have been those where I failed at something,” he says. “I did not get accepted to WVU the first time I applied, but that setback gave me another year of service in the Army. I took tank training at Fort Knox, and that extra time refreshed me and allowed me to enter law school the following year ready to meet the challenges ahead. During my 20 years of law practice, the wins and successes have been wonderful, but I have always learned the most when my cases did not turn out as I hoped or there has been a trial or appellate loss.”
New’s 20 years in the military were invaluable as well. “I believe I would never have accomplished a single goal I set for myself without my military service,” he says. “Discipline, punctuality, toughness, attention to detail, respect for others in positions of authority, teamwork—those are the skills and attributes I learned or refined in the Army.”
New enjoyed his 20 years in uniform, from enlisting in tanks and being commissioned as an armor officer to completing his service as the deputy commander for Camp Dawson in Kingwood, WV, and retiring as a major.
Many of the skills New honed in the military helped him during law school, which was an intimidating prospect for him at first. “I was scared at the beginning,” he says. “I knew I was close to my goal of becoming a lawyer. I did not want anything to interfere with that, so I took precautions. I did not take a TV to law school, and I did not use the internet during my first year.”
New graduated from WVU College of Law in 1998, Order of the Barristers. He was the top-ranked Lugar advocate in his class and competed on the traveling trial advocacy team. He also served as chief justice of the Moot Court Board.
“What I enjoyed the most about law school was the camaraderie,” he says. “The Class of 1998 was an outstanding class, and I enjoyed being with all my friends. Books I had read prior to law school made me afraid of what the experience would be like, but at WVU, the professors, staff and my classmates made my law school experience three of the best years of my life.”
Professor Thomas Cady, who taught torts, insurance and workers’ compensation, had a lasting impact on New, as did Doug Adkins, who hired New as a summer associate and later worked with him as co-counsel on a number of cases.
“Doug has always mentored me both professionally and personally,” says New. “He has shown me how to adequately prepare cases in a wide variety of practice areas and how to vigorously fight for my clients. He is an outstanding lawyer and an even better person.”
New’s first full-time job in the legal field was serving as a circuit court law clerk for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He worked with Raleigh County’s three circuit court judges and learned that there is no substitute for being prepared. He then took a job with Pamela Lambert as an associate attorney for four years. She allowed him to work cases and take them to trial. “Working in her office taught me that when I put the clients first, most other things will fall in line more easily,” he says.
In 2004, New opened his own firm in Beckley, WV. “I wanted the freedom that comes with being able to select the cases I want to handle, the clients I represent and the legal areas where I want to practice,” he says of that decision. “I have been blessed to continue representing injured workers in workers’ compensation claims, a practice area very important to me, but I have also been able to expand into many other practice areas too—and take the risks associated with it.”
Today, New spends much time lobbying to protect the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to trial by jury in civil cases, and he stands against tort reform in the name of economic development. “I enjoy being at the Legislature and educating our lawmakers about the impact of tort reform on the constitutional rights of their constituents,” he says.
He keeps most of his focus, however, on workplace injuries, an area that has faced many battles since 2005, when the West Virginia Legislature abolished the Rule of Liberality and privatized the workers’ compensation system. “I have made a number of appearances before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and I am proud that those appearances have led to many decisions to restore and expand the workers’ compensation rights for those workers,” he says.
New considers his greatest success to be a case that reached the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in which he helped a widow receive the due benefits she was being denied, and he is also extremely proud of a case in which he was co-lead counsel for a group of nursing students who had been misled about the accreditation status of their department at Mountain State University.
In recognition of New’s efforts, he has been selected as a Super Lawyer by his peers. He is currently serving as president of the West Virginia Association for Justice, and he has achieved the rank of diplomat with the American Association of Justice Advanced Study in Trial Advocacy program through continuing education.
When he’s not in a courtroom or at the state capitol, New enjoys helping law interns learn the legal ropes and serving the community through efforts such as the bicycle helmet philanthropy program he established within his firm in 2005. It started when a client contacted him from an emergency room because a physician was planning to call Child Protective Services about the man’s daughter sustaining injuries in a bike accident during which she wasn’t wearing a helmet.
“The result of that project has been the purchase of more than 12,000 bicycle helmets by my firm,” says New. “My office and I are extremely proud when we see those bicycle helmets out in our community keeping children safe.”
New serves as president of Theatre West Virginia’s board of directors, which has performed outdoor dramas at Grandview Park for 58 years. He also participated in the 2014 Hunks in Heels fundraiser, raising more than $34,000 for victims of domestic violence, and in a local Dancing with the Stars fundraiser that raised more than $200,000 for the United Way of Southern West Virginia. His firm also sponsors little league and other area sports teams.
“I have been the beneficiary of others’ generosity my entire life,” New says of the driving force behind his community service. “I simply attempt to be an extension of the same generosity that was shown to me when I was growing up.”
New is proud to serve his home state in so many different capacities. “I am a product of West Virginia—her communities, her public schools from Head Start through law school and her military,” he says. “I hope everything I do helps cast West Virginia in a positive light, and I am blessed to be able to give back to the communities and the state I call home.”
Photo by Will Price.
[sta_anchor id=”salango” /]Tera L. Salango
Attorney, Preston & Salango, PLLC
By Maggie Matsko
For Tera Salango, attorney at Preston and Salango, PLLC, it took a family tragedy for her to realize where her true passion lies. “Three days after my 16th birthday, my oldest brother, Todd, was murdered in a restaurant in Nitro,” she says. “It was a random attack that devastated our lives. I attended the trial of the man who murdered him and knew from that time on that I had to pursue a career in law.”
After high school, Salango attended West Virginia State University and majored in criminal justice. Once she graduated, she enrolled at Stetson University College of Law for her first year of law school, transferring to West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law to finish her degree in 2003. She graduated in the top 20 percent of her class at WVU with Order of the Barristers honors. She also received the best brief award for the annual George C. Baker Cup Competition and was a finalist in Allegheny County’s Annual Academy Mock Trial Competition.
Salango’s first job out of law school was as an associate at Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, where she learned about work ethic and the significance of being involved in her community. In 2005, she left to pursue her dream job: assistant Kanawha County prosecutor. For 11 years, she handled felony cases, trying numerous cases to verdict.
Salango had the opportunity to serve as co-chief of staff of the Office of the Kanawha County Prosecutor from 2013-2015. In that role, she helped with a program designed to reduce truancy in schools. “Our office wanted to focus on helping children stay in school,” she says. “We saw many cases in which kids would skip or miss classes due to poor home lives. We made it a priority to help these kids get their education.”
Salango currently practices in civil litigation, and she loves trial prep and trying cases. While she truly enjoys her work, one of the biggest challenges of her professional life has been balancing motherhood with her career.
“Being a wife and mom are the most important and fulfilling roles I will ever have, but there have been times when I’ve said to myself, ‘A woman can’t do it all,’” she says. “I think all working moms feel that way because you try to be the best mom possible and be the best at your career. I have dealt with this by not putting too much pressure on myself. I know I try my hardest to be the best I can be, and it has worked out pretty well so far.”
When Salango is not in the courtroom or spending time with her husband and two children, she is out in her community making an impact on West Virginia’s youth. “Community service is an important part of my life,” she says. “I believe all kids can be successful if given an opportunity, and I really enjoy working with programs that focus on helping at-risk children by giving them a second chance.”
For this reason, Salango has served as a board member with a variety of organizations, including PRO-Kids, Inc., the Shawnee Youth Development Center and the Susan G. Komen West Virginia Race for the Cure. She organized the local chapter of The National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, Inc., assisted in creating the Charleston Montessori School and plans events and fundraisers for Sojourner’s Shelter for Homeless Women & Families, YWCA Girls Night Out, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Sensitive Santa Program, the annual celebrity grand slam charity baseball game and the annual angel tree lighting ceremony honoring murder victims in Kanawha County.
“I think giving back to the community is one of the most important things we can do,” she says. “I know what it is like to have very little in life, so I never forget where I came from.”
Salango is proud to be from the Mountain State because this is where she learned the importance of being diligent in every aspect of her life. “Growing up in Nitro, WV, in a low-income home, I was taught at a young age that nothing would be handed to me,” she says. “My work ethic makes me proud of my West Virginia roots.”
Photo by Prestige Photography & Video.
[sta_anchor id=”stamp” /]Fred Stamp
U.S. District Judge, Northern District of West Virginia
By Kevin Duvall
In Fred Stamp’s legal career of nearly 60 years, he has been devoted to public service in and out of the courtroom. Stamp, who has served as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of West Virginia for 28 years in his hometown of Wheeling, WV, has served his city, state and country as a member of the U.S. Army, West Virginia House of Delegates and various community organizations.
“I have always been a strong believer in public service by lawyers in their communities because I think it makes us better lawyers and better citizens,” he says.
Stamp earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Washington and Lee University and graduated from the University of Richmond School of Law in 1959. After law school, Stamp entered the U.S. Army in a program where he served in active duty for six months and the reserves for six years. At the end of his active duty, he returned to Wheeling to join the law firm Schmidt, Hugus and Laas, now known as Schrader, Companion, Duff & Law, PLLC.
Stamp has seen significant changes in law throughout his career. In his early days of practice, he did everything the senior partners felt needed to be done since there were no specializations at the time. In the 1970s, he became more involved in trial practice, which included both jury trials and small claims cases before justices of the peace, some of which were held in the justices’ homes.
“What I learned from all those first cases is that a lawyer does not get to pick the facts,” says Stamp. “A lawyer tries the case the best he or she can and learns from losing as well as winning.”
After 30 years of practicing law, Stamp was appointed as a U.S. district judge by President George H. W. Bush in 1990. In addition to serving the Northern District of West Virginia, today Stamp also acts as a traveling judge in other districts and has taken cases in Maryland, Ohio, Florida, New York and Arizona. Due to his full case load, mentorship and community commitments, the one thing he is still working on that he has not yet accomplished is his retirement plan.
Stamp highly values the learning experiences he gained from older attorneys when he was a young associate as well as his long-time administrative assistant and the clerks he’s had during his tenure as a judge. “I have had a total of 30 bright young lawyers who have been my law clerks and from whom I have learned so much,” he says. “I am not sure whether my opportunity to talk every day with my two current law clerks qualifies as mentoring because I am probably learning as much from them as they do from me.”
Beyond his cases, Stamp has worked extensively in both general and legal education. As a member of the West Virginia Board of Regents, now the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, in the late 1960s, he helped establish West Virginia’s community college system. He has also served on the boards of Davis & Elkins College, Wheeling Jesuit University and the University of Richmond.
In 1999, Stamp, along with the other federal and state judges in the Northern Panhandle, established the Judicial Scholars Program, which allows high school juniors and seniors to participate in programs on law and law enforcement. Many students from the program have gone on to practice law.
The code of conduct for U.S. judges does not permit public service work that involves the practice of law, but over the years Stamp has done volunteer work for the Wheeling YMCA and The Salvation Army and served as a member of the vestry of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. He also currently serves as an emeritus trustee of The Linsly School.
Stamp has received many awards throughout his career, but the one in particular that stands out for him is the Justitia Officium Award from West Virginia University College of Law.
“I have lived in West Virginia all my life and cannot think of a better place to raise a family and practice law,” he says. “We have an excellent group of lawyers who contribute to the well-being of the state.”
Photo by John Wallace, IV.
[sta_anchor id=”wallace” /]Joseph A. Wallace
Co-Owner and Attorney, Wallace Law Offices
By Samantha Cart
Growing up in Elkins, WV, Joseph Wallace, a scrappy kid who often found himself in the middle of a fight with a much bigger opponent, found his greatest inspiration in his mother, Nancy, and his older brother, Jack, who considered themselves the three musketeers.
“For me it was the world against the three of us, and I was ready for the fight,” he says. “My brother served our country during the Korean War as an officer in the Marines. Leadership by example is the personal characteristic that has had the greatest influence on my success—I learned that from my brother, who was a leader of men but never in his life shouted an order. My mother was also my mentor. She was a widow at age 35 and went back to college at age 55 to obtain a degree to teach. Nancy and Jack were exceptional people because of their character, their consideration for others and the strength of their love.”
In the spring of 1960 at his graduation from Michigan State University, Wallace was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He went on to attend West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law that fall, but he was called to active duty as a result of the Berlin Crisis in 1961. Instead of returning to Morgantown for his second year of law school to learn about torts, contracts and civil procedures, he was sent to El Paso, Texas, to learn how to use high-flying ground-to-air missiles in an attack.
While Wallace’s call to service had a major impact on his education, he does not consider it a setback. He believes the type of learning he was forced to do during his tour prepared him for his remaining years of law school and his career. Wallace was assigned to a North American Aerospace Defense Command control center in Maine. There, he worked at a station where the orders to strike were made. He was surrounded by recently graduated engineers who were quick and deft at their tasks while he found the air missile lessons difficult.
“The other guys had no problems, but I had to study and learn things I had never heard of before,” says Wallace. “Nevertheless, I learned how to do it. After I fulfilled my active duty and received an honorable discharge, I enrolled in Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. The first year of law school is difficult. It includes words and thinking that are foreign to most people, and I had been gone for two years. I spent many hours in Tulane’s law library refreshing all that had escaped me since my first year, but I do not regret being called to active duty. I am honored to aid my country when it calls for me. I graduated from Tulane on May 31, 1965, and by that time, my first-year law school classmates from West Virginia had already been practicing law for two years.”
Wallace, now a co-owner and attorney at Wallace Law Offices in Elkins and an adjunct professor of business law at Marshall University, has taken the lessons of service he learned from his time in the military and from his brother to heart in both his career and community.
“Ever since I was a teenager, I wanted to help create jobs,” he says. “Friends of mine growing up had fathers who didn’t have jobs or couldn’t find jobs in West Virginia, and some of them left the state to find work. In my first position after law school as house counsel for a hotel company in Memphis, TN, I was assigned to find options to buy or build hotels. I set out to find viable locations for the owners to see. Over and over I flew into cities and towns to be met by representatives, but the people who met me knew nothing about what a hotel needed to be viable. It wasn’t long until I realized the key to attracting an employer is to be prepared and knowledgeable so that their needs are met. That taught me how to attract jobs, and it works.”
Wallace considers his greatest professional success to be locating Bruce Hardwood Floors, now Armstrong Wood Flooring, to Randolph County. As the founder and former drafter and president of the Elkins Industrial Development Authority, which later became the Randolph County Development Authority under his leadership, Wallace was in a unique position to help attract employers to the Mountain State.
“Bruce Hardwood Floors was a successful 100-year-old company, and it took 10 years for it to be moved to West Virginia,” he says. “I spent all 10 years, 1985-1995, helping get it done. My firm helped me as much as it could, and we weren’t paid a dime. We donated that time with pleasure, and it truly fulfilled my dreams. I appreciate every company and individual that employs people in West Virginia, but Armstrong Wood Flooring is my favorite.”
Wallace and his business partner of more than 50 years, John Wallace, have worked hard to build a successful practice in Elkins. They have served clients from across the U.S. as well as several foreign countries.
“We have had the country of Canada as a client and tried the case in federal court in Washington, D.C., with success,” says Wallace. “We have represented some of the largest companies in the world. In reality, the clients choose us—usually because of our reputation. We are guardians of the law, and we want all people to have justice.”
This strong partnership allows Wallace the opportunity to focus a significant portion of his time on serving West Virginia in hopes of making it a more vibrant and economically stable place to live. In 2017, he was appointed by Governor Jim Justice as a member of the West Virginia State Board of Education, a role that brings him great joy.
“I now have the chance to help all West Virginia students, and I have always wanted to improve our community economically,” he says. “Helping others is the call to humanity. Food for children who might not be fed is crucial, which is something we do on the board of education, and creating jobs successfully saves families who need help. It’s everyone’s responsibility to the extent of their own means. Children are the future of West Virginia, and they’ll need education significantly better than ours in order to earn enough money to support a family. I want to help them.”
Wallace has received a number of honors for his hard work over his long career. Along with being named a Distinguished West Virginian by Governor Gaston Caperton in 1990, he was named the 1992 West Virginia Socially Responsible Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. magazine, an American Entrepreneur Hall of Fame honoree and West Virginia Volunteer of the Year in 1998. He has also been recognized with a West Virginia State Bar Certificate of Merit Award and an outstanding service award by the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia.
Over the course of his career, Wallace has served on the West Virginia State Bar’s board of governors, board of directors for the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, advisory board to the Federal Judges for the Northern District of West Virginia for Civil Justice Reform, Randolph County Bar Association, West Virginia Society of Hospital Attorneys, West Virginia State Bar judicial improvement and alternate dispute resolution committees and the International Association of Defense Counsel, an invitation-only position. He co-founded and served as a charter member of the West Virginia Defense Trial Counsel and co-initiated the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia’s settlement week, where he has served as a mediator and member of the settlement week committee.
When he is not serving his firm or the state, Wallace can be found supporting the community of Elkins and Randolph County. Along with serving as the former assistant prosecuting attorney for Randolph County and counsel for the City of Elkins, he has served on the board of trustees for Davis Memorial Hospital and the Randolph County Historical Society and the board of directors for the Elkins Industrial Development Corporation and Randolph County Development Authority.
“West Virginia is home for me, no question,” says Wallace. “I have been very fortunate to be blessed with wonderful days, wonderful people and my family’s connection to this state. For me, it’s not the beauty of our state that makes West Virginia my home. It’s the people who help each other and build each other up. Many of our good people have come from other states, and they have discovered it really is Almost Heaven. That makes them friends of mine.”
Photo by Rick Lee.
[sta_anchor id=”willis-miller” /]Taunja Willis Miller
Counsel, Jackson Kelly PLLC
By Katlin Swisher
Logan, WV, native Taunja Willis Miller has had a career of firsts, which has helped pave the way for other female lawyers to be successful in the Mountain State. A law career wasn’t always on her radar, but finding this path has allowed her to leave her mark on both her profession and West Virginia.
Before college, Willis Miller dreamed of working for the United Nations. When she enrolled at West Virginia University (WVU) as an undergraduate, she pursued a degree in French with plans to put it to good use with foreign service. She later switched to political science, realizing she did not want to stray too far or too long from West Virginia.
“WVU helped a shy girl from Logan grow into a relatively confident young woman who was the president of the senior honorary and a varsity cheerleader,” she says. “More importantly, I became committed to staying in West Virginia and making it a better place for all to live.”
Willis Miller earned her law degree from WVU College of Law in 1977, receiving Order of the Coif and Patrick Duffy Koontz honors. Her class was the first class to attend all three years in the new law school facility, marking an exciting start to a long career of firsts. There were also plenty of challenges and benefits to studying at WVU College of Law, all of which contributed to the success story that is Willis Miller’s career.
“The most challenging aspects about law school were the Socratic method of teaching and having only one examination per semester,” she recalls. “The most enjoyable parts were being surrounded by bright people, honing analytical skills and writing. My law school class was the first class with a significant number of women in it, which was an interesting dynamic.”
After graduation, Willis Miller joined Jackson Kelly’s Charleston office, where her practice was primarily focused on the area of public finance. Public projects she worked on included the establishment of West Virginia’s first water and sewer bond bank and the creation of WVU Hospitals, the predecessor to today’s West Virginia United Health System, known as WVUMedicine.
As a young female attorney, Willis Miller encountered misconceptions about her abilities that were based on her gender and age.
“Early on, a Charleston city official complimented one of my mentors on how smart he was to bring an assistant, referring to me, to city council to take notes when I was the one who had prepared the ordinance and other documents being presented,” she says. “Even in law school, one firm I interviewed with asked whether I would be able to lift the property books in the courthouse. I think I addressed these challenges just by continuing to do good work, which is what most people want.”
She continued to counter those misconceptions with her hard work and diligence, becoming the first female partner at Jackson Kelly in 1984.
Led by her deep love for and commitment to the state of West Virginia and its people, Willis Miller withdrew from Jackson Kelly in 1989 to become the state’s first secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) and a member of Governor Gaston Caperton’s cabinet.
“It was an incredibly difficult job,” she recalls. “The state was experiencing a financial crisis, and much of my job involved canceling programs and finding ways to either cut the budget or obtain more funds. It was and is one of the largest departments in state government. It was also very rewarding. We made substantial progress, particularly relating to health care programs that still exist.”
According to Willis Miller, her time spent as the DHHR secretary helps her keep the practice of law in perspective today. “Deciding whether a security interest is validly perfected may be challenging intellectually, and a wrong decision could prove costly. But that decision is very different from one directly affecting people’s quality of life—whether they will get health care, child care or even food,” she says.
After three years of public service, Willis Miller returned to Jackson Kelly in 1992 to resume her practice. She served as the managing member of the firm’s Bridgeport, Martinsburg, Morgantown and Wheeling offices and was instrumental in the development and growth of the firm’s presence in the northern part of the state.
Over the course of her career, Willis Miller has developed a broad-based business practice in which she represents hospitals and health care providers, 501(c)(3) organizations and higher education institutions in financial and business transactions, including tax-exempt financings.
“I knew I wanted to do business law, and Jackson Kelly asked if I would be willing to do bond work,” she says. “They do not teach bond work in law school, so I said, ‘Tell me what a bond is, and I’ll be glad to do it.’ It turned out to be the perfect fit, particularly for someone who wanted to drop out of law school to become a social worker. Bond work is public finance, doing the legal work for governmental entities and nonprofits to borrow money for water and sewer systems, college housing facilities, hospitals and other public or charitable projects. So, if I had known what bond work was, I would have chosen it without even being asked.”
Willis Miller was one of the first lawyers in the state to focus on public-private partnerships to provide educational and other facilities. She has assisted in the transition of several health care facilities from public to private status and has been involved in many hospital financings throughout West Virginia. She also regularly represents government entities in economic development initiatives. In addition, Willis Miller engages in commercial transactions, including bank financings, the purchase and sale of assets and low-income housing tax credits.
Today, Willis Miller is a resident in Jackson Kelly’s Morgantown office. In this position, she leads a team of younger lawyers who work on financial and other business transactions for government and nonprofit organizations.
“Much of what I am doing now is mentoring others,” she says. “It is a process of transition. You start with the younger lawyer assisting you on a transaction you lead. Over time, you start assisting the younger lawyer with transactions that he or she leads. The investment is worthwhile because it benefits not just the younger lawyer but also the firm and the clients you have worked with for years.”
Willis Miller has always given back to her community, regardless of where she was practicing law. While in Charleston, she served as the board chair of both Daymark, Inc. and the Schoenbaum Family Enrichment Center, Inc. and as a board member of the United Way of Central West Virginia, West Virginia Health Right and the YWCA. She has also been a member of the Center for Rural Health Development’s loan committee since its inception and received a Leadership in Rural Health Award from the center in 2011.
Since moving to Morgantown, she has served as a member of Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s Early Childhood Planning Task Force. She recently completed terms as the board chair of the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center and the secretary of Arts Monongahela. In addition, she is always willing to assist nonprofit entities with organizational matters—she regularly consults with or drafts bylaws for organizations such as the free health clinic and the homeless initiative.
In addition to these boards and community causes, Willis Miller cherishes her appointment to and current service on WVU’s board of governors.
“Serving on the WVU board of governors combines almost everything I care about into one opportunity,” she says. “A land grant institution, WVU’s mission embraces things I care deeply about—education, health care and prosperity. I have always worked to improve the lives of children. Educating young adults, many of whom are first-generation college students, is vital to that improvement. Improving the lives of children means improving the lives of their families who need stable incomes, safe places to live and opportunities to succeed. WVU’s focus on economic development through West Virginia Forward and other activities can help bring those opportunities.”
The goal Willis Miller set as an undergraduate at WVU to stay close to West Virginia and help its people have better lives here is even more deep-rooted today and continues to drive her to succeed and give back to the state.
“I am a life-long West Virginian and truly have never had any desire to be anywhere else,” she says. “I have always garnered strength from the hills and from my heritage. I have had a wonderful professional and personal life here, and I want to help others have the same.”
Photo by Steve Payne.
[sta_anchor id=”warner” /]Bobby Warner
Owner and Attorney, Warner Law Offices
By Jamie Null
Despite a successful career as owner and attorney at Warner Law Offices, Bobby Warner considers his greatest role to be that of father to his three children. While he will be happy as long as they each find fulfilling careers, the highlight of his legal career would be one day sharing the courtroom with one of them.
Family has always been important to Warner, who grew up at Lake Floyd, near Clarksburg, WV, with his three siblings. He attended West Virginia University for both undergrad and law school, where the hardest part was striking a balance between his personal life and academics.
“For me, the most challenging part was balancing school, my social life and my passion for hunting,” he says. “I would schedule classes so I could hunt half of the day and go to school the other half.”
Professor Forest “Jack” Bowman helped Warner stay on track during law school. “He taught me the importance of writing down long-term goals and reviewing and editing my progress,” says Warner. “To this day, I review my short- and long-term goals because of him.”
Warner’s first job out of law school was with Huddleston Bolen, after which he decided to open his own firm because he wanted to represent individuals, not corporations. “I felt passionate about helping people in their most difficult times,” he says. “I had a real sense of purpose going into work each day.”
Today, Warner Law Offices has locations in Denver, CO, and Charleston, WV, with clients in 37 states. The firm’s primary practice is personal injury; however, it also handles employment cases. According to Warner, the biggest test for all lawyers is being able to find a balance between work and home.
“Years ago, I decided my family would always be my number one priority,” he says. “My personal well-being would always be my second, and work would be third. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Warner’s commitment to hard work and integrity has not been overlooked by the legal community. Throughout the years, he has been named a West Virginia Super Lawyer, Charleston Newspapers’ Best Attorney, 2018 West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow, 2014 West Virginia Executive Young Gun and a Top 100 Trial Lawyer.
Community service is important to Warner. In 2008, he and his wife, Michelle, established the Warner Family Foundation as a way to give back to various organizations throughout West Virginia. Inspired by his love for the outdoors, Warner also founded Beyond the Backyard, a program that promotes sports and exposes children to hunting, fishing and camping.
He also created a booster seat program at his firm for lower income families in the state after he represented a young boy who was injured in an automobile accident. The child was not in a booster seat because the family could not afford one.
“It was like someone kicked me in the gut,” he says. “I could not imagine having to choose between feeding my children or keeping them safe. I am happy to say that Warner Law Offices has now given out more than 1,000 booster seats to lower income families across West Virginia.”
Another way Warner gives back to his profession and the community is by mentoring young lawyers. “I had several extraordinary mentors when I started my solo practice,” he says. “Their support, advice and counsel were invaluable in helping me create a solid foundation upon which to build my practice. I have always felt that it is my duty and my honor to help the solo practitioners who have come behind me.”
Warner’s sincerity in helping others both in and out of the courtroom leaves no doubt that he loves his profession and the Mountain State.
“West Virginia is everything to me,” he says. “It’s where I was born and raised and where my children were born. I love a good fight, and I love protecting people who are being bullied. To this day, I still get fired up in my cases when I see companies taking advantage of people or using their power over good, hard-working West Virginians. While it got me in trouble when I was younger, that willingness to fight for others has helped me tremendously as a lawyer.”
Photo by WVU College of Law.
[sta_anchor id=”farmer” /]Chase Farmer
Class of 2018, WVU College of Law
By Blair Dowler
For Chase Farmer, practicing law is in his blood. A fourth-generation West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law graduate, he is also the fourth generation member of his family to become an attorney.
He learned from watching his father how rewarding the legal profession can be. “He has always said, ‘If you do what’s best for your client, everything else will take care of itself,’” says Farmer.
Farmer took his father’s advice to heart early on as a law student. In addition to his coursework, he served as president of the Marlyn E. Lugar Trial Association. There, he helped organize and competed in intramural and intercollegiate mock trial competitions. He also served as the vice chief justice for the Moot Court, where he assisted with events and worked with first- and second-year students on polishing their arguments.
Throughout law school, Farmer was diligent in preparing for his career as a West Virginia attorney. His internships included a summer at Wilson, Frame, & Metheney, PLLC, and a summer working for the Honorable Judge Phillip Gaujot in Morgantown. He also competed in three in-house mock trial competitions at WVU and represented the college at three intercollegiate competitions.
“Standing in the courtroom and arguing in front of a judge or jury is exhilarating,” he says of the competitions. “The opportunity to practice and sharpen your skills in a setting where the outcome will not negatively impact a client’s life is truly invaluable.”
Farmer has been blessed with a great support system, particularly his wife, Katie, and his grandfather, George Farmer, Jr.
“I cannot explain how rewarding it was to share my law school experience with my grandfather,” he says. “He’s not shy about offering constructive criticism, which is both humbling and treasured.”
Farmer was named the 2017 George C. Baker Cup winner, and when he graduated in spring 2018, he received the honor of the Order of Barristers and Pro Bono Distinction. As a student, he also received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for interview, counsel and negotiation, and he was a Marlyn E. Lugar Cup runner-up. With law school behind him, he will practice personal injury law in Morgantown at Farmer, Cline and Campbell, PLLC.
Photo by WVU College of Law.
[sta_anchor id=”trump” /]Rebecca L. Trump
Class of 2018, WVU College of Law
By Blair Dowler
Berkeley Springs, WV, native Rebecca Trump has always considered the law to be an honorable professional path. After all, her father is a lawyer, as were her grandfather and great-grandfather. Her parents never pushed her in the direction of law school—she came to that decision on her own.
As an undergraduate at Penn State University, Trump studied economics and political science. After graduating in 2013, she moved to Morgantown to work on the U.S. Senate campaign for Shelley Moore Capito. As a field director, Trump organized the grassroots operations for Capito’s campaign in northern West Virginia, which then led her to Washington, D.C., to serve as a legislative correspondent for the new senator.
In 2015, Trump made the difficult decision to leave her job and enroll in law school. “As much as I enjoyed my job, I felt that if I waited any longer, I would never end up going to law school,” she says.
With the decision made to build a career around serving West Virginians, she enrolled at West Virginia University College of Law.
As a law student, Trump served as the editor-in-chief of the West Virginia Law Review, where she oversaw the publication and spearheaded the 2018 Appalachian Justice Symposium.
“We wanted our symposium to focus on Appalachia and the unique challenges our part of the country faces,” she says. “Our goal was to host an event that came up with practical solutions, and we wanted to bring together experts from a variety of disciplines so they could collaborate on ideas.”
Trump graduated in 2018 in the top 10 percent of her class, earning Order of the Coif honors. She also received the Patrick Duffy Koontz Award and two CALI Excellence for the Future Awards. In September, she will join Steptoe & Johnson PLLC as an associate with a focus on litigation.
As for trading in Capitol Hill for the Mountain State, she has no regrets.
“I love West Virginia,” she says. “I felt an urge to get out when I was finishing high school. West Virginia felt too small, and I wanted to experience something new. But the things that might bother a 17 year old are things that a 27 year old can appreciate. I love how small it is and that everyone is connected. I find that whenever I leave, I always want to come back.”
